The movie companies alleged that RCN wasn\u2019t doing enough to stop subscribers from pirating on its network. Instead of terminating the accounts of persistent pirates, the Internet provider looked away, they argued.<\/p>\n
The stakes in these liability lawsuits are high. Internet providers face damages claims reaching hundreds of millions of dollars, while tens of thousands of Internet subscribers are at risk of having their accounts terminated.<\/p>\n
Reddit Users as Evidence<\/h2>\n
RCN\u00a0denied<\/a>\u00a0most of the allegations and asked the New Jersey federal court to dismiss the case. That effort\u00a0failed<\/a>\u00a0last October and the matter is now proceeding, with both parties gathering evidence.<\/p>\n The filmmakers have previously shown that they don\u2019t shy away from relying on evidence from unrelated third parties. This includes Redditors who have semi-anonymously shared their thoughts on piracy warnings and repeat infringer policies from Internet providers.<\/p>\n In the RCN case, this is no different. Attorney Kerry Culpepper discovered several Reddit discussions with potentially relevant comments. Some Reddit users specifically mention RCN. Others refer to ISPs in more general terms but could refer to RCN or other brands of the\u00a0Astound conglomerate<\/a>.<\/p>\n To gather more details, the filmmakers would like to know who these commenters are. To obtain their identities, they obtained a subpoena compelling Reddit to share basic account information, including IP-address logs for \u2018ben125125\u2019, \u2018SquattingCroat\u2019, \u201cGriffdog21\u2032, \u2018aromaticbotanist\u2019, \u2018ChikaraFan\u2019, \u2018compypaq\u2019, \u2018dotsamantha\u2019, \u2018ilikepie96mng\u2019 and \u2018matt3324\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Reddit is not pleased with the request. On January 17, the company informed the filmmakers that it would alert the subscribers, allowing them to contest the subpoena. In addition, Reddit suggested that handing over personal details could violate users\u2019 First Amendment right to anonymous speech.<\/p>\n Roughly two weeks later, none of the affected users had filed an objection in court. However, Reddit decided to share information about \u201cben125125\u201d, while protecting the other users.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As shown above, \u201cben125125\u201d responded to\u00a0a thread<\/a>\u00a0about piracy warnings and specifically mentioned RCN. That wasn\u2019t as obvious in the other comments and Reddit feels that disclosing their identities goes too far.<\/p>\n \u201cReddit maintains its objections to the subpoena\u2019s remaining requests for identifying information associated with the eight additional accounts listed in the subpoena,\u201d Reddit\u2019s attorneys informed the filmmakers in an email.<\/p>\n \u201cReddit has reviewed the examples provided by plaintiffs and continues to believe the requests for identifying information associated with the additional eight accounts are more in the nature of a fishing expedition and are neither relevant nor permissible under the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Among other things, Reddit stresses that some of the comments are well beyond the three-year statute of limitations. In fact, one comment was posted 13 years ago. In addition, the comments don\u2019t all reference RCN, the provider at the heart of the dispute.<\/p>\n The rightsholders see things differently. This week they asked a California court to compel Reddit to hand over the requested details and IP-address logs, as these are highly relevant. Disclosing the information is proportional to the needs of the case, they argue.<\/p>\n The comments can provide evidence that RCN can control the conduct of subscribers and didn\u2019t have a proper repeat infringer policy, with the latter acting as a draw to potential subscribers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This includes a comment from the user ChikaraFan about RCN\u2019s alleged \u201clax\u201d policy for dealing with repeat infringers, which the filmmakers plan to use as evidence.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaintiffs wish to use ChikaraFan\u2019s statement as evidence of and that this \u2018fairly lax\u2019 policy was a draw for becoming a customer.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though the statement was made eight years ago, Plaintiffs can use the information requested in the subpoena to contact ChikaraFan and authenticate her\/his post to obtain evidence to support their claims.\u201d<\/p>\n Other posts are also relevant and proportional, the rightsholders argue. These include several comments suggesting that ISPs don\u2019t have very strict repeat infringer policies, without mentioning the names of the providers.<\/p>\n The filmmakers believe that these can be very useful if they are about RCN or one of the other Internet provider brands operated under parent company Astound.<\/p>\n The motion to compel also counters Reddit\u2019s First Amendment right to anonymous speech argument, noting that none of the users filed an official protest after being notified.<\/p>\n The Reddit users apparently don\u2019t have to fear repercussions themselves, as the film companies stress that they\u2019re not interested in pursuing legal action or financial claims against them.<\/p>\n \u201cRather, Plaintiffs just wish to discuss the comments the subscribers made and use their comments as evidence that RCN monitors and controls the conduct of its subscribers, RCN has no meaningful policy for terminating repeat infringers and this lax or no policy was a draw for using RCN\u2019s service,\u201d they write.<\/p>\n The matter is now with the court, which must decide whether Reddit can be compelled to identify the affected users. The list no longer includes \u2018dotsamantha\u2019 who was dropped from the request. Reddit, meanwhile, may have to say more on the matter.<\/p>\n If anything, the above shows that film companies are willing to dig deep to prove a point. This can drag relatively anonymous Reddit users into a lawsuit they probably never even heard about.<\/p>\n The issue isn\u2019t limited to Reddit either; rightsholders can pull comments from Twitter and other social media platforms.<\/p>\n Whether this unconventional tactic will yield results has yet to be seen. Based on recent history, it is clear that the filmmakers and their lead attorney don\u2019t give up easily.<\/p>\n In a separate case last year, they won a\u00a0$14 million copyright judgment<\/a>\u00a0against LiquidVPN. Since then, the companies have pulled out all the stops to get their money.<\/p>\n Just last month, the filmmakers obtained a worldwide\u00a0asset restraining order (pdf)<\/a>\u00a0that prohibits the former operators of the defunct VPN provider from disposing or transferring valuable assets. The same case also triggered a battle over a $300,000 yacht that was left abandoned after the verdict.<\/p>\n The RCN case and Reddit dispute are more straightforward but the tactics deployed show that the filmmakers are willing to do whatever it takes, using all legal means at their disposal.<\/p>\n \u2014<\/em><\/p>\n A copy of the motion to compel Reddit to comply with the subpoena, as filed at the California court this week, is\u00a0available here (pdf)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Source: \u00a0![\"reddit](\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/reddit-subpoena.jpg\")
<\/center> <\/p>\nReddit Objects<\/h2>\n
![\"ben](\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/benreddit.jpg\")
<\/center> <\/p>\n![\"reddit](\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/reddit-letter.jpg\")
<\/center> <\/p>\nFilmmakers Ask Court to Step In<\/h2>\n
![\"fairly](\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/littletrouble.jpg\")
<\/center> <\/p>\nRelevant and Proportional<\/h2>\n
Whatever it Takes<\/h2>\n
![\"TorrentFreak\"](\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/torrentfreak.png\")
<\/a> TorrentFreak.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"